Credit card debt statistics

Americans
have created billions of dollars worth of debt over the past 45 years, and credit card debt has
been an important part of that. Credit card debt dove -- along with consumer
spending -- during the 2008 financial crisis and slow growth has kept total
revolving debt at pre-crisis levels, though it is creeping up. According to
figures from the Federal Reserve, total U.S. outstanding consumer debt was $3.62
trillion as of May 2016.1That figure includes car loans,
studentloans and revolving debt, but not mortgages. Total U.S. outstanding revolving debt, which
is chiefly made up of credit card balances, was $953.3 billion as of May 2016.1

What is the average credit card debt?

Average credit card debt is not a single number. Instead, you will get many different answers, depending on how you measure it. The average debt is:

$1,154 per card that doesn't carry a balance (the amount is charged, but paid off monthly)2

$1,678
per account, U.S. adults with a credit report and Social Security number3

For more information, see "Measuring average credit card debt.") The amount
of average credit card debt has been steadily increasing over the long term. As
of 2013, a person born between 1980 and 1984 had on average $5,689 more
in credit card debt than his or her parents (those born between 1950 and 1954)
at the same stage of life and $8,156 more in credit card debt than his or her
grandparents (those born between 1920 and 1924).7

The Great Recession reversed the growth
of credit card debt -- at least for a few years. According to TransUnion,
between the first quarters of 2008 and 2014, average credit card debt per
borrower fell from a high of $6,276 in mid-2008 to $5,164 in Q1 of 2014 -- the
lowest point in the six-year period.8
Balances have been creeping up since then at a national level, though some
states have seen decreases.

STATES WITH LARGEST ANNUAL INCREASES, DECREASES IN AVG CREDIT CARD DEBT PER CONSUMER

Card issuers divide the world into two
groups: "transactors" who use their cards for purchases and pay off
the balances each month; and "revolvers" who carry balances on their
cards, paying interest charges month to month. To pure transactors, the
balances on their cards aren't really debts at all, since any purchases will be
paid off before interest charges are applied.

In Q4 of 2015, the number of revolver
accounts increased 0.4 percentage points from Q3 2015, accounting for 42.1
percent of all card accounts, while transactor accounts increased by 0.3 points
to 29.7 percent. Dormant accounts fell 0.7 percent to account for 28.1 percent.10

FACTOID:In a March 2013 CreditCards.com poll, 85 percent of respondents said they were unlikely
or somewhat unlikely to talk with a stranger about credit card debt -- a
subject more taboo than religion, politics, salary and love life details.11

Students and credit card debt

The Credit CARD Act put the brakes on credit card use by college students.
Among other provisions, it bans credit card approvals for anyone under 21 years
old unless they have an adult co-signer or can prove they have sufficient
income to pay the bills.

Many more college students in 2015 had debit
cards (85 percent) than credit cards (56 percent), according to a survey by
student loan provider Sallie Mae titled “Majoring in Money.” The top reasons
students cite for not having a credit card are that they don’t feel like they
need one (51 percent) and they want to avoid debt (47 percent).17

But there are signs that students who
do have credit cards tend to pay them off responsibly. Nearly two-thirds (63
percent) pay their card balance in full each month. Just 8 percent pay only the
minimum amount due each month.17

The annual average credit card balance
of all student cardholders in 2015 was $906; younger students (age 18-20) carried
a significantly lower average balance ($611) than students aged 21-22 ($1,013)
or 23-24 ($1,109).17

How much students pay on their credit
cards affects their monthly balances. Transactors who pay their balances in
full each month have a much lower average monthly balance, $825, than those who
do not. The average monthly balance of students who pay more than the minimum,
but not the full balance, is $935, while the average balance of students who
pay only the minimum is $1,635.17

Credit
card debt and student loan debt

According to Sallie Mae’s 2016 report, “How America Pays for College,” 20 percent of college costs are paid by borrowing
(either by the student or the parent). Most of that is comprised of student
loans, but 5 percent of students use credit
cards to help fund college costs, while 2 percent of students’ parents did the
same.13

A 2016 DealNews survey suggests there
is a correlation between credit card debt and student loan debt. Among
respondents with student loan debt, 76 percent also carry a credit card
balance. It’s possible that the desire to pay off those student loans quickly
may be impacting card debt, which usually carries a higher interest rate. Some
76 percent of respondents who pay more than the required monthly payment on
their student loans carry a credit card balance.9

FACTOID:Twenty-six
percent of the “silent generation” (Americans born between 1928 and 1945) had
credit card debt in 2015, while 41 percent of baby boomers, 44 percent of Gen
Xers and 39 percent of millennials had card debt.18

Small-business credit card debt

Half of small businesses are transactors, according to a May 2012 survey by the National Small Business Association. Among its findings:

50 percent of small business owners said they paid off the balance on their business credit cards every month;

According to an April 2016 study by
Harvard University’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, low-
to moderate-income consumers are far less likely to have a credit card than upper-middle-income Americans (59
percent versus 94 percent). Additionally, 39 percent of households making less
than $40,000 annually have no credit card, compared to just 12 percent of
households making more than $100,000.19

One impact of this lack of credit
access is that lower income households tend to have lower credit card debt. According
to a February 2016 Bankrate survey, households with incomes of less than
$30,000 were four times more likely to have no credit card debt than households
making $75,000 or more.20

But those households were also saving
less. Only 35 percent of households with income of less than $30,000 had more
in emergency savings funds than they did in credit card debt, compared to 71
percent of households making $75,000 or more.20

In a March 2012 survey, Demos looked at
the differences between low- and middle-income families who had credit card
debt, and those who didn't. Among its findings:

Households in which a member
lacked health insurance in the three years before March 2012 were 20
percent more likely to carry credit card debt than households where no one
had been uninsured;

Those in which someone had been
unemployed for two months or more in the three years before March 2012
were 14 percent more likely to carry credit card debt than households
where no one was unemployed;

Those with children under 18 years
of age were 15 percent more likely to carry credit card debt than
households with no children;

Those without credit card debt
reported having savings nearly three times greater than average households
with credit card debt;

Homeowners with negative equity
were 24 percent more likely to carry credit card debt than those without
negative equity in their homes.

Respondents with a college degree
were 22 percent less likely to carry credit card debt than high school
graduates;

Yet 71 percent of households in
debt who paid college expenses for themselves or their spouse between
February 2009 and February 2012 said those expenses contributed to credit
card debt.15

We encourage an active and insightful conversation among our users. Please help us keep our community civil and respectful. For your safety, do not disclose confidential or personal information such as bank account numbers or social security numbers. Anything you post may be disclosed, published, transmitted or reused.

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.

The editorial content on CreditCards.com is not sponsored by any bank or credit card issuer. The journalists in the editorial department are separate from the company's business operations. The comments posted below are not provided, reviewed or approved by any company mentioned in our editorial content. Additionally, any companies mentioned in the content do not assume responsibility to ensure that all posts and/or questions are answered.

San Antonio tops list of cities with heaviest card debt burden – San Antonio residents would take the longest time to pay off credit card debt relative to income compared to other major U.S. cities, a CreditCards.com analysis found. By contrast, San Francisco and Minneapolis residents would take the shortest ...

Contact

Related Sites

ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE
CreditCards.com is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. The offers that appear on this site
are from companies from which CreditCards.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where
products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they appear within listing categories.
Other factors, such as our proprietary website's rules and the likelihood of applicants' credit approval also
impact how and where products appear on the site. CreditCards.com does not include the entire universe of available
financial or credit offers.

CARDMATCH™ is a free, secure service that will not affect your credit score. Simply provide your basic information, and view offers that match your credit profile within seconds.

Advertiser Disclosure

CreditCards.com is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. The offers that appear on this site are from companies from which CreditCards.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and the likelihood of applicants' credit approval also impact how and where products appear on this site. CreditCards.com does not include the entire universe of available financial or credit offers.